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3 Internal HDD configuration

I was considering reformatting and reinstalling XP on my 500 GB Raid 0 drive but since HDD's are so cheap I've now decided to follow several people's advice and dump the Raid 0 and replace the two 250GB drives with one 500.

But I have slots for 3 HDD's so here's the question. I do a lot of digital photography and am well on my way to a Terabyte of photo material. I'm thinking of installing one of the 250's as the C drive with my programs and non photo related material on it -- and using the two 500's for the photos.

Is this the best and most efficient usage of resources or is there something else I should be considering?

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Id say go with the 2X 250 GB and set them in a RAID configuration for fault tolerance.

However doing so means you only have 250 GB. You could with which ever configuration suits you best. The 500 GB has more storage but isn't as fault tolerant. The 2X 250's NOT in a RAID configuration is the same as the 500 but it takes more power to run it and is not fault tolerant. The 2X 250GB in raid is fault tolerant and takes more power to run.

I don't know how quickly you eat up hard drive space, so what ever configuration suits you best, go for it.

Hope I helped.

Edited by xXAlphaXx, 01 December 2008 - 07:46 PM.

If I am helping you and I do not respond within 24 hours, please send me a PM.

- One 160GB hard drive as my C drive for the operating systems and software programs.
- One 160GB hard drive as my K drive used as a cache drive for Photoshop, and as the Windows page file.
- One 500GB hard drive as my D drive used for data files (music, photos, videos, e-mails, MS Office documents, etc.).

Then I have a second identical 500GB hard drive in an external enclosure, connected via eSATA, as my data backup drive.

I think the key is to keep your data on a separate drive from your operating system and software programs. That way if you ever get a BSOD (blue screen of death) you don't lose data or have to re-copy data from the backup when you flash and re-install the operating system and software programs.

So in your case I would use one 250GB drive as your C drive, one 250GB drive as a cache drive, and dump the 500GB drive unless you can use it for data file storage.

The other option would be to keep the RAID array for your C drive (speedy) and then have a single 1TB drive for your data files.